diff --git a/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.test.ts b/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.test.ts
index 4aa2ce401..9f7d809da 100644
--- a/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.test.ts
@@ -38,10 +38,13 @@ describe('skillUpdateFailedNames', () => {
     expect(skillUpdateFailedNames(['orca-cli'], [placement('orca-cli', 'current')])).toEqual([])
   })
 
-  it('reports a copy the run left outdated', () => {
-    expect(skillUpdateFailedNames(['orca-cli'], [placement('orca-cli', 'outdated')])).toEqual([
-      'orca-cli'
-    ])
+  // Reversed deliberately. `skills update` compares its lock against the source
+  // and never reads disk, so once the lock has advanced past the installed bytes
+  // it prints "up to date", exits 0 and writes nothing — leaving a recognised
+  // older revision that no retry converges. Blaming the run for that invented a
+  // failure the CLI never reported and armed a Retry that could not succeed.
+  it('does not blame the run for a copy the update command cannot converge', () => {
+    expect(skillUpdateFailedNames(['orca-cli'], [placement('orca-cli', 'outdated')])).toEqual([])
   })
 
   it('reports a half-written bundle instead of reading it as success', () => {
@@ -76,20 +79,31 @@ describe('skillUpdateFailedNames', () => {
     ).toEqual([])
   })
 
-  it('fails the name when any convergent alias was left behind', () => {
+  // Still fails on a DEGRADED alias — only `outdated` was reclassified, so a
+  // half-written alias beside a good canonical copy must not read as success.
+  it('fails the name when any convergent alias was left broken', () => {
+    expect(
+      skillUpdateFailedNames(
+        ['orca-cli'],
+        [placement('orca-cli', 'current'), placement('orca-cli', 'unrecognized', 'provider-alias')]
+      )
+    ).toEqual(['orca-cli'])
+  })
+
+  it('does not fail the name for an alias the command merely left old', () => {
     expect(
       skillUpdateFailedNames(
         ['orca-cli'],
         [placement('orca-cli', 'current'), placement('orca-cli', 'outdated', 'provider-alias')]
       )
-    ).toEqual(['orca-cli'])
+    ).toEqual([])
   })
 
   it('judges each requested name independently', () => {
     expect(
       skillUpdateFailedNames(
         ['orca-cli', 'orchestration'],
-        [placement('orca-cli', 'current'), placement('orchestration', 'outdated')]
+        [placement('orca-cli', 'current'), placement('orchestration', 'unrecognized')]
       )
     ).toEqual(['orchestration'])
   })
diff --git a/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.ts b/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.ts
index 6d75d4b5e..77a005446 100644
--- a/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.ts
+++ b/src/main/skills/skill-update-outcome.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,22 @@ export function skillUpdateFailedNames(
     }
     // `newer-known` counts as landed: the CLI pulls from the source repo, which
     // can be ahead of the revision this build ships in its manifest.
-    return convergent.some((entry) => entry.status !== 'current' && entry.status !== 'newer-known')
+    //
+    // `outdated` is not a failed run either. `skills update` compares its lock's
+    // recorded hash against the source and never reads disk, so when the lock has
+    // advanced past the installed bytes it reports "up to date", exits 0, and
+    // writes nothing. The copy is left intact — a recognised older revision, not
+    // a broken one — and no amount of retrying converges it. Calling that an
+    // error invented a failure the CLI never reported and armed a Retry that
+    // provably could not succeed. The freshness badge still marks the copy
+    // not-current, so this only stops the run being blamed for it.
+    //
+    // A genuinely botched write is still caught: a half-written bundle hashes to
+    // `unrecognized`, a wholly-degraded or removed copy leaves no convergent
+    // placement, and process-level failure surfaces through the spawn error.
+    return convergent.some(
+      (entry) =>
+        entry.status !== 'current' && entry.status !== 'newer-known' && entry.status !== 'outdated'
+    )
   })
 }